Critic Reviews

The fast pace (unrealistic, but what do you expect in a game featuring Nazi dinosaurs?) won’t appeal to everyone, but it does make for frenzied, quick skirmishes that keep the action flowing. The three game modes are typical fare, and the game could use more maps and single player content (and bots), but the pure silly fun of Dino D-Day can’t be denied. It would be an average, solid shooter on its own, but adding dinosaurs makes it a distinctive entry in the all-too-bland World War II first person shooter world.

It’s unfair to hold this game up to the same standard as a $60 retail release. As a $20 mod, it’s a lot of fun, but it still needs work. In the 7 hours it took me to become familiar with every unit, map, and game mode, I enjoyed myself, but I don’t really have any desire to play the game further. Hopefully some new dinosaurs or single-player content will be released soon, since those types of content might justify the price tag eventually. Multiplayer first-person shooters are dime-a-dozen these days, so unless you can’t live with knowing what it’s like to control a raptor in a video game, wait until 800 North Digital Ranch releases a Stegosaurus or an Iguanadon before committing to this campaign.

Dino D-Day easily captures attention by mixing Nazis and dinosaurs into an online World War II shooter but doesn't stay interesting for long. The guns don't feel powerful and the Nazi dinosaur combatants, despite all the humor value they bring to a fight, bring little in the way of satisfying gameplay. Sloppy controls, class imbalances, mediocre maps and a general lack of polish make Dino D-Day a tough game to enjoy. Once it's done making you laugh, there isn't much else worth sticking around for.

As much as I like supporting independent developers, I'm afraid Dino D-Day just isn't worth the purchase price for Australians, at least not yet. The developers are promising more dinosaurs, maps, modes, and even a single-player campaign in future updates, and hopefully this will transform the game into something revolutionary. However, as it stands, it's a generic WWII shooter - albeit with four very cool dinosaurs.

This game either needed a lot more time in development, or a swift kick in the free bucket. It offers no incentive to play it beyond an hour or so, other than the possibility of finding new and experimental ways to take a lizard to the face. The novelty of the Axis/Allies thing wore off a long time ago, and while Dino D Day tries to put a new spin on the whole thing, it doesn’t feel new at all. It feels so ridiculously forced and contrived that you’ll be hard pressed not to assume that the game isn’t some belated April Fool’s day gag, the whole point of which is to see if developer 800 North can’t get you to drop 20 bucks on something they made in 2 days. Dino D Day tries very hard to jump the shark, and manages to get to the ramp and fly at high speed into the maw of its own Dinosaurs.